Vernon Branch Library

Vernon Branch Library. . , Carnegie Funds Library , Since 1901, the Vernon Branch Library of the Los Angeles Public Library system has been serving patrons near Central and Vernon avenues. Initially called a delivery station, the library was housed in a rented building. Neighborhood volunteers staffed the facility until 1906, when two paid attendants were hired. In 1911, the city received a $210,000 grant from the Carnegie Foundation of New York City to build library branches. The Vernon Branch, constructed at a cost of $35,000 in 1915, was one of six Los Angeles libraries built with Carnegie funds. When it opened, a bakery was the only commercial establishment in the area. , Architects Charles H. Kysor and Charles H. Biggar designed the brick building in the Classical Revival style. An open-air reading room that could be converted into a closed room by means of a sliding sash window was one of its special features. The branch provided not only books but also meeting rooms that community members utilized almost daily. In its early years, so many European Jewish immigrants used the library that informational signs in the building were written in Yiddish. , Miriam Matthews Builds a Robust Collection , As branch librarian from 1934 to 1944, Miriam Matthews responded to her own and patrons' interests by launching the creation of a special collection about the Afro-Mexican and African American experience in California. Over her lifetime, Matthews compiled an impressive archive of books, documents, photographs, and art, documenting African American life in California from 1781. She was the state's first professionally trained African American librarian. In 1927, despite having been misinformed by white library personnel about the date of the civil service examination, Matthews showed up at the correct time and passed the test. She retired from the Los Angeles Public Library in 1960, after serving as branch librarian in four locations and as the supervising librarian, for 11 years, of the South Central Region, in which Vernon was one of 12 branches. , In 1971, the special collection Matthews began was expanded thanks to a large contribution by members of the League of Allied Arts to purchase books in the field of African American history. The collection was named for Dorothy Vena Johnson, a founder, president, and longtime member of the group, which was established in 1939 and dedicated to the study, sponsorship, and promotion of all forms of the arts to bring cultural enrichment to the community. Matthews was also a longtime member of the organization. Johnson, a native black Angeleno and dedicated supporter of the library, was a poet whose work was published in a number of anthologies and periodicals. Some have observed that Johnson's poetry reflected her interests in human rights, world peace, and racial equality. She taught in Los Angeles public schools for more than 40 years. , Earthquake Damage Prompts Library Rebuilding , The 1915 Carnegie building suffered severe earthquake damage in 1971; it was closed and later demolished. Federal disaster funds financed the construction of the current modern-style branch with a concrete exterior, designed by Mathew Lapota and Associates. The new location opened in 1975 and was renamed the Vernon-Leon H. Washington Jr. Memorial Branch. Washington, a longtime library supporter, was the founder of the Los Angeles Sentinel and a noted civil rights activist who had died in 1974. Los Angeles Councilman Gilbert Lindsay, the city's first African American council member, and Library Commissioner Leontyne King, the first African American to sit on the city's Board of Library Commissioners, were instrumental in ensuring that the Vernon Branch was maintained to serve the community. , The demographics of the Vernon Branch neighborhood dramatically changed throughout the 20th century. Once predominantly white, the area grew by the mid-1900s to become a vibrant African American neighborhood, with signif-icant numbers of people of Mexican, Central American, and Asian descent. By the early 21st century, the neighborhood had become predominantly Latinx. The library continues its mission to enrich, empower, and inform patrons by serving the evolving community's needs.